Inventor Nani
by Beck2
Summary: It's the thrill of a lifetime! Team seven is told to go out to the middle of nowhere to give a package from the Hokage to 'Inventor Nani'. But what does this 'Nani' invent, anyway?
1. Chapter 1

A/N:

Hello, I'm writing my first Naruto fanfiction. Pardon if the format's a little sketchy, I've been having problems with some of my other stories, and needed something to take my mind off them. I'll try to write a good story, but I'll be making quite a few twists to the storyline. It's set after the whole hospital rooftop fight with Naruto and Sasuke. Hope you enjoy.

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**Fifteen Years before the fall of Kyuubi**

'_Once there were seven princes, and they lived in a castle far away. Each prince was represented by a guardian spirit, and when the spirits' names were invoked, the princes gained strong power. But with such power always comes danger._

_One day, a prince was walking out of the bounds of his country, when he was set upon by a ferocious snake. Its body was the width as a man stands tall, and it length many yards long. Without delay, the young prince spoke out the name of his guardian spirit. But, in his haste, spoke the name unclearly and only invoked part of the creature. For the young prince, the last sight he saw of this world were the horrifying eyes of the beast as it turned and ate him whole._

_Later, when they learned what happened, the other six princes vowed never to use the guardian spirits again. They sealed the spirits away in a mountain that floats about the sky, never to return to the earth's surface.'_

"I don't like it when you tell her those horrible stories." Inoue sniffed. "It's bad for her. She'll get ideas about monsters and heroes and want to be one or the other. You know the active imagination she has."

"Ah yes. Mustn't give my granddaughter ideas, who knows what she'll become of herself. She certainly won't become anything without them."

"How dare you say such a thing! She will marry to a good home and raise a family! Just like I did!"

"Perhaps your parents didn't let you have enough ideas!" The old, slight man retorted. The woman who was his son's wife fumed, wide mouthed. Beautiful, but too set in her ways to be truly bright.

"Grandpa?" A slight tug on his sleeve caused him to look down.

"Yes, little one?"

"What happened to the young prince's guardian beast?"

"It wandered the earth." His hand made a sweeping motion. "Until it could find a vessel worth taking."

"What did it look like?"

"It had fur of fire and claws that could tear apart a single man to pieces within a second. It had unimaginable power, and with only its evil side showing, it spread destruction where it went."

"Did it find the vessel?"

"No one knows. Perhaps one day you'll tell me."

"Enough! GO to bed, Nani!"

"So what are the other beasts like, Grandpa?"

"Another time perhaps." He scooped her up into a hug. "Go to bed now, Nani. I will tell you the rest some other time."

"Okay." The girl wandered off too her bed in disappointment, dragging along her stuffed cat doll.

The old man smiled. The girl was the spitting image of his own wife at that age, and strongly resembled his son as well, thank goodness. The same brown hair, the same quizzical eyes always asking questions, the same slightly upturned mouth. She was only five, but had captured her father's mannerisms almost completely now. He'd be teaching her his craft and taking her out to fish any day now.

"How can you tell her such things? Everyone knows that story is just some fantasy."

"Shouldn't children keep their fantasies, at least for awhile?" He countered while taking a quick sip of his drink. "Besides, she'll grow up sooner than you think, and she will decide if the old legend is true or not."

"It's not!" The woman snapped exasperatedly.

"All legends have a basis in fact. The nine tailed fox is causing trouble even now. And, leaving you that thought, I'm off to bed as well. Goodnight, daughter-in-law."

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**Present day**

'Years passed. Winter turned to summer again ten times over. War broke out. An uneasy peace reigned. Heroes lived and died. Some villages grew into great cities. Others stayed small and inconspicuous. Others ceased to exist at all. But the great village of the leaf ever prospered.'

"Hurry up, Naruto!" Sakura yelled.

"Just a minute!" Naruto turned back to the storyteller. "Then what happened?"

"Then you gave me some money to continue the story."

"What? NO way!" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "I can't believe you!"

"Believe it sonny, we all have to make money." The storyteller grinned with his crooked teeth. His head was losing hair left and right, making him seem like some demented wanderer.

A hand clapped down on Naruto's shoulder. "You're making us late. Hurry up!"

Kakashi dragged the boy away from the storyteller over to the large load of packages in front of the Konahagure post office.

"This better not all be to some old house in the Leaf. I wanna go somewhere else!" Naruto whined.

"Shut-up and help us, stupid." Sasuke snapped. "It's your fault, anyway. You didn't do the last job right and now we're being punished."

Naruto fumed. He didn't have anything to say in return.

Delivering the packages took most of the day, as it seemed none of the packages had the right address. By nightfall, they were down to one package and all of them, including Kakashi, were harboring thoughts of hatred toward all postal offices.

"I'm gonna go crazy. Why would anyone do this for a living? Good thing there's only one left."

"Uhh…" Sakura looked over the small wrapped package. "It doesn't have an address. It says, 'To Inventor Nani'. No wait, here it says 'Outskirts of Yushono Fields'. It's not addressed like a regular package."

"Aww, man. And the old Obaa-san told us we had to deliver all of them. Maybe we should just slip it back in the mailbox."

"I wonder who sent it…Hey! Tsunade-sama sent this! We can ask her where it goes!"

Naruto mumbled something unintelligible. Sakura replied by glaring at him.

"You said you wanted to go somewhere else. This is somewhere else! Stop complaining Naruto!"

"Enough. Sakura, go ask Tsunade where the package goes. You two go pick up a few days supplies. NO RAMEN. And hurry up, I'll wait here." Kakashi sighed.

"How do you know?" Naruto questioned.

"I've been in the area around those plains. Get moving." Kakashi leaned against the wall of the post office and watched them leave to their different tasks, Sasuke having to drag the unwilling Naruto around by the scruff as the blond complained.

The last few days had been tense. They were under his command, the chunnin exams were over, and much of the problems in leaf were caused by the remarkable clumsiness of one Uzumaki Naruto. The last job had been so badly botched that the entire team, along with their sensei, had been disciplined.

He would never, ever let Naruto near paint again.

Naruto and Sasuke were still a little tense around each other. The fight they had on the hospital roof could have killed them both, along with Sakura. After that, a few harsh lectures had set them both right, or so he hoped.

Twenty minutes later, Sakura came running back holding the package and a small scroll. Her face was slightly flushed from running. "I got directions."

"Good job. Where is it?"

"It's almost a hundred miles away."

They were going to need a few more days' rations.

"Looks like this mission may be a bit longer than I thought." Kakashi sighed. There was loud arguing coming from the direction the two boys had gone. "You go home and pack for the trip. I'll tell the other two. Hurry up."

For a trip this long, they must be going to the woods on the far end of the plains. Kakashi scratched his nose. The area was relatively safe, if one didn't count the bandits and the paranoid villagers.

Sakura quickly disappeared to the direction of her home. Kakashi shook his head and walked to the other gennin, who had a much too small bag of small rations. He quickly relayed the message.

"Be at the bridge in two hours. Don't be late."

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Please leave any comments, notes, criticisms, or anything of the like in the review box below. Reviews are appreciated but not necessary, as I intend to write the story with or without them. Constructive criticisms are welcomed. Thank you. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

Second chapter. It's likely that all the chapters will be fairly short. Hope you all don't mind.

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"It's been raining for seven days!"

"Four." Sasuke said wearily. Naruto had been complaining about the rain for days, and it was about to fray Sasuke's last, sane nerve.

"We've been on the road for a week! When are we gonna find this stupid village?" Naruto griped.

"Tsunade-sama said the village was only a week trip. We should see it any time." Sakura's voice sounded depressed. She was wilted like a blossom that had gotten too much water.

Kakashi tried not to let his complaining students bother him, but the rain was putting him in a sour mood as well. He was beginning to have resentful thoughts on Naruto's punishment. Why did they have to deliver a package to a village that didn't even have a name, anyway?

Suddenly, Naruto bolted off into the forest alone.

"Naruto! Get back here!"

"I'm going to find that stupid village and—HEY! A field! With plants!"

"Fields have plants, stupid!" Sasuke yelled back as they doubled their pace to join up with the rogue gennin.

"Not full of vegetables, stupid!" Naruto called triumphantly. He was sitting on a fence post when they finally caught up with him.

"Wow, this place is sheltered. The trees come all the way to the fence. It must have taken forever to dig up all the stumps." Sakura observed. She took a quick scan of the area. "No workers."

"Probably taking a day off from the rain." Kakashi said, looking about for any sign of life. "The fields are too well tended for wild plants."

"So where are the people?" Naruto jumped down from his perch. "Should we follow the fence?"

"Probably. Keep an eye out, though. Villagers in small towns tend to protect themselves against raiders, so they may attack any strangers."

Just as Kakashi finished speaking, an arrow whistled through the air and dug itself into the piece of fence that Naruto had been sitting on.

The shinobi threw themselves flat behind the fence, using it as a cover.

"Where did that come from?" Naruto hissed.

"From a tree on the other side of the field."

"Good eye, Sakura."

"He moved, Master Kakashi."

"Why didn't you warn us beforehand?" Sasuke demanded.

"It looked like a bear!"

"He's wearing some sort of animal camoflauge. It looks real enough." Kakashi commented. The other two gennins finally managed to see the offending person.

"…Bears don't usually have bow and arrows, do they?" Naruto asked quizzically.

"You are such an idiot."

"Quiet. I'm going to sneak back around. You three stay here." Kakashi inched backwards on his stomach, swiftly doing a teleportation jutsu as he moved. He transported to the trees just behind his students, and quickly moved around the perimeter, keeping an eye out for others in animal camouflage.

There were two on the ground several trees away from the first archer, both in bear suits. The only indication they weren't bears were the bows they were holding as they took aim at his students.

He jumped down between them and gave them both a sharp rap with the butt of the kunai, then snuck off to take care of the last one.

The last bear archer got the same treatment as the other two, and Kakashi tied the three to a tree and set the weapons well out of their reach before retrieving his students. When he got back to where the three bear people were tied, two had come out of the stunned state they were in.

"Wow." Naruto got in close. "I wonder who made these. These are so real looking." He touched one of the costumes. "You can barely see the seams."

"You'd better watch yourselves!" A whiny, panicky voice said. Kakashi located it as the voice of the smallest archer. "We have traps of torture waiting for you in our forest! Fear the bear men!"

Obviously, Kakashi mused, these were not the brightest of archers.

"Bear men?" Naruto cocked his head. "You're just a guy in a suit."

There was an awkward silence, then the small archer puffed up. "We have the great inventor Nani behind us! You may have defeated us, but never will you defeat the great Nani!"

"Nani? I don't get it." Naruto said. "Why is your inventor a question?"

"Don't make fun of the inventor!"

Kakashi rustled in his bag for a minute and pulled out the small, envelope shaped package. He had seen the word, 'inventor' before.

"I have a package for your inventor." He showed the archers the address. "See? It's addressed to 'Inventor Nani'."

The two conscious bear archers looked at each other. Then they both looked at the package again.

"Is it real?" One demanded.

Kakashi did his best to stifle a groan.

"We shouldn't keep Inventor Nani's package waiting." The other said worriedly.

"Untie us, we'll take the package."

"No way! I want to see this Inventor you guys praise so much! Then I get to see if this crap is worth it!"

"Naruto!" Sakura gasped.

"You wish to see the great Nani! Very well, we'll show you to Nani's house." The small archer said proudly.

Kakashi couldn't decide whether the bear archer was planning something or incredibly stupid. Perhaps he had decided the package was real, and doing this service would put him in favor with the 'Great Nani'.

"You can walk like that." Sasuke said evilly.

"We cannot! Untie us!"

Kakashi could not wait until this mission was over.

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Please leave any reviews on the way out, and thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N

One more chapter. That's all the updates for today!

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"That's a big barn." Sasuke commented.

"I wonder what the inventor does in it." Sakura said as she looked on. The barn had to be the size of most of village houses put together.

Naruto thought the village had been depressingly small. The whole trip was a waste of time. Who wanted a stupid envelope, anyway? And they had been receiving glares from all of the open doors.

The smallest bear archer marched up to the door of a house that looked as if it had been built onto the side of the large barn as an afterthought.

"Great Nani, come and share your wisdom!" The archer called as he knocked on the door. After no answer, he knocked harder.

The door suddenly swung open. "Look, Yamska, whatever it is that makes you announce to the world these things had better start canning themselves right now…Oh, hello, who are you all?"

To say the least, Nani the Great had not been what he was expecting. He expected an old, decrepit man full of himself and waiting for a bow from everyone….what was at the door was a skinny young woman with almost no figure to speak of with brown pigtails and brown eyes that were currently staring in wonder at them.

"We're here to deliver a package-" Kakashi sensei began.

"A package for me?" She said, cocking her head to the side. "What is it?"

"It's right here." The teacher pulled it out of his vest where it had been keeping dry.

"I hardly…well, no, I never get mail. You know…you guys look like drowned rats. Why don't you come inside for awhile? You must have traveled far to finally end up here." She took the package from Kakashi sensei held it over archer Yamska's shoulder.

"Great Nani-"

"Thanks for leading them here. Good luck on that guard duty you're supposed to be doing."

"Anything for you, Nani."

"Yamska."

"Yes, Inventor Nani?"

"Would you get out of the way so the drowning shinobi can get some shelter?"

"Sorry!" Yamska the bear archer hurriedly moved aside. "We will guard. You can sleep well tonight, Inventor Nani."

"I do every night, thanks to you and your team's brave efforts." She said with a big smile. Yamska puffed up with pride and marched off, two equally proud bear archers behind.

"Well, now that that's done, you guys want to come inside for some hot drinks?"

"I do! I do!" Naruto yelled. His sensitive nose picked up the smell of food.

"Well get in here. Don't make me invite you for a fourth time. I draw the line at five." She went back into her house. Naruto followed, followed by Sakura, Sasuke, and lastly Kakashi-sensei, who took a glance around outside before shutting the door.

"How did you know we were Shinobi?" Sakura asked suddenly.

"Those things you wear on your head were a big clue. Leaf, right?"

"Yeah, but this place is so…"

"Isolated?"

"Yeah."

"A few shinobi still show up now and then. Usually, they get lost and they get stuck here, where just about everyone is lost." Nani poured some tea into cups and handed it over to the shinobi.

Naruto drank his cup down fast, and then held it back up to Nani. "More please!"

"Naruto! Don't be so rude!" Sakura hissed.

"I said please!"

"That's okay. You must be shinobi. Nobody's ever survived my tea before."

Sasuke choked mid-drink.

"That was a joke. I didn't really mean it." Nani said while filling up Naruto's cup after seeing Sasuke's expression.

Letting the tea warm his hands, Naruto took in his surroundings. The Inventor's shack was full of old pieces of metal and other material, and the walls were lined with shelves full of books and bottles. One wall stood bare of shelves, and in its place was a large map full of markings. Looking closer, he saw that the map was of Konoha and the surrounding countries, all the way to the coasts. The only furniture in the room was a bed and a desk, with a small kitchen off to one side. There was one other door in the entire house, leading off to a small bathroom in back.

"So whaddaya invent, Nani?" He asked curiously.

"Hmm…I helped make those suits you saw those guys wearing. I also made the irrigation systems around here."

"Costumes and plumbing has been made before." Sasuke said.

"Yes, but around here, you need to do it differently. It takes big money to clear trees and have professionals put in plumbing, so we have to do these things ourselves."

"Anything else?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, but I can't show anyone that until the rain stops. It's my most incredible invention ever." Nani said in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Really?" Naruto said in excitement. "Can we see it?"

"Sure! That is, if you're willing to stay till the rain stops. That reminds me, did anyone offer to give you shelter in town?"

"No." Kakashi-sensei shook his head. "They seemed fairly hostile."

"Oh. Well, don't mind that. They give me those looks too. It just takes them a bit to come around. They're the old salt of the earth, as Granddad said, which means they can be really stubborn." She chatted away happily while pushing the desk up against the wall. "Pick a spot, you can stay here for tonight. Anyone can use the bed, I need to catch up on some notes, and there's some stew in the pot in the kitchen. I always use way too many ingredients, so I have a lot to spare."

"She talks as much as you do." Sasuke whispered. Naruto was about to lash back with an insult when Sakura asked another question.

"What are you writing notes on?"

"The calculations of wind speed on the structure of ordinary kites." Nani flourished a small paper box kite. "This kite can take up to fifteen mile per hour winds without breaking. I'm going to use what I know to construct a kite that can stand seventy."

"What will that do?"

"What will it do? It's a stepping stone. Who knows what I can learn from it? It also has a big thing to do with what I'm doing for my other invention, but I'll leave you to think on it." She put the kite on the dresser.

Naruto helped himself to the stew in the kitchen. It was a little salty, but warm, which was better than the slightly damp foodstuffs he'd been eating for the last few days.

"Oh!" Nani suddenly straightened up. "I've been talking so much I didn't catch your names."

"I'm Sakura, this is Sasuke, that's Naruto, and our teacher is Kakashi-sensei." Sakura pointed them out in turn.

"That's great! I haven't had visitors, actual visitors, for years. Make yourself at home, throw off any wet clothes and I'll heat up the oven to get this place warmed up some more." She walked over to the kitchen and turned up the oven, leaving the door open to heat the house.

Nani was nice, Naruto had decided. She talked a lot, and except for the whole secret invention stuff, she seemed perfectly happy to tell them everything about herself. And the stew was fairly good, which practically set her in immediately good graces with him. Anyone that would let them bunk in their house to wait out the rain was totally alright with him. Even Kakashi-sensei didn't say anything when Naruto and his team began setting out bedrolls. They were all too happy to get out of that rain.

The girls discretely looked away while the guys changed to better, drier clothes (except for Kakashi-sensei, who claimed he was dry enough) and the guys gave the same respect to Sakura. Nani didn't appear to go outside much in the rain. She claimed a little later that rain would turn her hair gray by washing all of the color out of it. She got a little embarrassed after she realized that she said that right in front of Kakashi-sensei, who had running a hand through his hair at the time.

Five minutes after putting his head to an extra pillow Nani had given him, Naruto was out like a light. The last thing he heard was Sakura asking about the various jars on the shelves.

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